
COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



Lincoln 



LINCOLN 



WRITTEN FOR THE OCCASION OF THE 



UNVEILING OF THE FREEDMEN'S MONUMENT 
IN MEMORY OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 
APRIL 14, 1876 



BY 

H. CORDELIA RAY 



NEW YORK 
1893 




Copyright, 1893, 
By H. CORDELIA RAY 



Press of J.J. Little & Co. 
Astor Place, New York 



LINCOLN 



To-day, O martyred chief, beneath the sun 
We would unveil thy form ; to thee who won 
Th' applause of nations for thy soul sincere, 
A loving tribute we would offer here. 
'T was thine not worlds to conquer, but men's 
hearts ; 

To change to balm the sting of slavery's darts ; 
In lowly charity thy joy to find, 
And open " gates of mercy on mankind." 
And so they come, the freed, with grateful gift, 
From whose sad path the shadows thou didst 
lift. 



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Eleven years have rolled their seasons round, 
Since its most tragic close thy life-work found. 
Yet through the vistas of the vanished days 
We see thee still, responsive to our gaze, 
As ever to thy country's solemn needs. 
Not regal coronets, but princely deeds 
Were thy chaste diadem ; of truer worth 
Thy modest virtues than the gems of earth. 
Stanch, honest, fervent in the purest cause, 
Truth was thy guide ; her mandates were thy 
laws. 

Rare heroism, spirit-purity, 
The storied Spartan's stern simplicity, 
Such moral strength as gleams like burnished 
gold 

Amid the doubt of men of weaker mould, 
Were thine. Called in thy country's sorest hour, 
When brother knew not brother — mad for 
power — 

To guide the helm through bloody deeps of war, 

While distant nations gazed in anxious awe, 

Unflinching in the task, thou didst fulfill 

Thy mighty mission with a deathless will, 
i* 



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Born to a destiny the most sublime, 

Thou wert, O Lincoln ! in the march of time, 

God bade thee pause and bid the oppressed go 

free- 
Most glorious boon giv'n to humanity. 
While slavery ruled the land, what deeds were 

done ! 

What tragedies enacted 'neath the sun ! 
Her page is blurred with records of defeat, 
Of lives heroic lived in silence, meet 
For the world's praise ; of woe, despair and tears, 
The speechless agony of weary years. 

Thou utteredst the word, and Freedom fair 
Rang her sweet bells on the clear winter air; 
She waved her magic wand, and lo ! from far 
A long procession came. With many a scar 
Their brows were wrinkled, in the bitter strife, 
Full many had said their sad farewell to life. 
But on they hastened, free, their shackles gone ; 
The aged, young, — e'en infancy was borne 
To offer unto thee loud paeans of praise,— 
Their happy tribute after saddest days. 



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A race set free ! The deed brought joy and 
light ! 

It bade calm Justice from her sacred height, 
When faith and hope and courage slowly waned, 
Unfurl the stars and stripes, at last unstained ! 
The nations rolled acclaim from sea to sea, 
And Heaven's vault rang with Freedoms har- 
mony. 

The angels 'mid the amaranths must have hushed 
Their chanted cadences, as upward rushed 
The hymn sublime : and as the echoes pealed, 
God's ceaseless benison the action sealed. 

As now we dedicate this shaft to thee, 

True champion ! in all humility 

And solemn earnestness, we would erect 

A monument invisible, undecked, 

Save by our allied purpose to be true 

To Freedom's loftiest precepts, so that through 

The fiercest contests we may walk secure, 

Fixed on foundations that may still endure, 

When granite shall have crumbled to decay, 

And generations passed from earth away. 



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Exalted patriot ! illustrious chief ! 

Thy life's immortal work compels belief. 

To-day in radiance thy virtues shine, 

And how can we a fitting garland twine ? 

Thy crown most glorious is a ransomed race ! 

High on our country's scroll we fondly trace, 

In lines of fadeless light that softly blend, 

Emancipator, hero, martyr, friend ! 

While Freedom may her holy sceptre claim, 

The world shall echo with Our Lincoln's name. 



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My 13 



